1970s

Listening to Did You Boogie (With Your Baby) by Flash Cadillac and The Continental Kids is really music nostalgia to me. The first time I heard the song was on the radio in 1991 or 1992 – I was trying to study for an exam in my parents home (lying on the couch with my math book, don’t know how intensive study that was). Immediately I fell for the old sound that Did You Boogie (With Your Baby) had and the rest of the day I was humming the chorus as far as I could remember it:

Did you boogie with your baby in the back row of the movie show
And did you boogie there cause you had nowhere else that you could go
And when the lights went way down low
Did you forget about the picture show
Yes, did you boogie with your baby in the back row of the movie show

The song was still on my mind when my exams where over so I tried to find the it via my local record store but it failed because I could not remember the artist Flash Cadillac and The Continental Kids (a bit long name if you ask me). By coincidence I years later found it on a 70s hit collection.

So when I want to listen to a happy nostalgic song from my youth to remind me of school and summer Did You Boogie (With Your Baby) is an obvious choice.

Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones is often played in my house to start the weekend with some kickass punk rock. I like The Ramones way to play very simple but really fast punk rock – they do not make it complicated but do what they do best. I have read somewhere that they did not renew themselves in their later years – I agree, but honestly who cares? Listen to their debut single Blitzkrieg Bop and the iconic lyric intro “Hey! Ho! Lets go!” and you are sold to the Ramones universe. And making catchy one-liners and remarkable guitar riffs is what make The Ramones so fantastic to me.

Blitzkrieg Bop is the debut single and can be found on the album just named Ramones. If you want to know how ponk rock started this is the place to explore!

Highest chart position: None – but the song is often named as very influential by rock critics. Some critics even hold that Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones is the punk rock breakthrough.

Shining Star by Earth Wind & Fire is one of my favourite funk songs. The sounds are incredible combining vocals and instruments perfectly to result in a funky classic. In retrospect perhaps I should not be surprised about the high standard knowing that the founder of Earth Wind & Fire was Maurice White who bad been a studio musician at Chess Records playing on recording with legends like Chuck Berry, The Supremes and Muddy Waters among others.

If you ask me the lyrics should be taught in schools to cure all low self-esteem:

“You’re a shining star, no matter who you are

Shining bright to see what you can truly be”

All people should have the right to be a Shining Star in there own lifes.

Listen to Shining Star and get in a better funk mood . The song is on the album That’s The Way Of The World by Earth Wind & Fire. And please find a video with Earth Wind & Fire just to see the fantastic colorful outfit they wear.